Opening and closing levers for ring binders



Feb. 3, 1959 s. SEGAL I 2, 7

OPENING AND CLOSING LEVERS FOR RING BINDERS Filed Sept. 24, 1956 OPENING AND CLOSING LEVERS FOR RING BINDERS Samuel Sega], New York, N. Y., assignor to Wilson-Jones Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Massachusetts Application September 24, 1956, Serial No. 611,420 2 Claims. (Cl. 129-24) This invention relates to means for opening and closing the ring sections of ring binders, and is particularly concerned with a pair of levers rigidly secured to corresponding ends of a pair of ring plates carrying a plurality of pairs of mating n'ng sections.

A pair of ring plates is positioned in a cover plate in edge to edge relationship. The outer edges of the ring plates are held against movement relative to the cover plate. The inner abutting edges of the ring plates have a toggle joint between them, and the outer edges of the ring plates serve as fulcrums for the limited pivotal movement permitted the ring plates by the toggle joint.

A lever is welded to each of the ring plates adjacent corresponding ends of said ring plates, and each lever is bent upwardly in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the ring plate to which it is secured. Thelevers may be manipulated manually by finger pressure exerted in the same direction to open and close the ring sec-" tions by lifting or depressing the abutting edges of the ring plates.

The manipulation of the levers is facilitated by the provision of a lip on one of the levers and a pair of laterally spaced lips on the other lever. extend in the same direction, outwardly from the sheets impaled on the rings, so that the space between the edges of sheets impaled on the rings and the closest adjacent lever is kept at a minimum. Since no additional space is required to provide clearance between the levers and the sheets, as would be required if any of the lips were bent to extend toward the sheets of the hinder, the length of the binder is also kept at a minimum. This is important because it eliminates the necessity of making a binder of special size to accommodate sheets of standard size.

When the ring sections are to be moved from closed to open position, the lip on the single lipped lever and one of the lips on the double lipped lever are grasped between the thumb and forefinger of the user and pressed toward each other to impart the necessary pivotal movement to the ring plates. When the ring sections are to be moved back to closed position, the lip on the single lipped lever and the other lip on the double lipped lever are grasped between the thumb and forefinger and pressed toward each other to reverse the movement of the ring plates and rings.

In each ring opening or closing operation one of the lips of the double lipped lever is inactive, and the limited lateral space between the lips would ordinarily cause the inactive lip to interfere with proper grasping of the other two lips for manipulating the levers. I have overcome this difliculty by making the two levers of difierent heights so that the single lip is in a different horizontal plane than the two lips of the double lipped lever. It does not make any difference which lever has the greater height as long as the pair of lips is not in the same horizontal plane as the single lip. At'

the start of either ring opening or ring closing movement the single lip is in a vertical plane close to the verti- United States Patent All three lips Patented Feb. 3, 1959 accompanying drawings, showing a preferred illustrative embodiment of the invention, in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a ring binder embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary elevational view of a ring metal showing the levers with the rings in closed position;

Fig. 3 is a view, similar to Fig. 2, showing the levers with the rings in open position;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary bottom plan view showing the manner in which the levers are secured to the ring plates;

Fig. 5 is an end view of the metal shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is an end view of the metal shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is a cross sectional view, taken along the line 7-7 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary top plan view showing one of the levers secured to one ring plate; and

Fig. 9 is a view, similar to Fig. 8, showing the other lever secured to the other ring plate.

In the drawings, the reference numeral 2 indicates a 4 is secured in any suitable manner, as, for example, by riveting. The ring metal comprises a cover plate 5 having its opposite longitudinal edges bent to form flanges 6 and 7 which extend downwardly to engage the back 3. The cover plate is provided with a plurality of pairs. of openings 8 which extend inwardly from the upper edges of the flanges in uniformly spaced relationship. The openings of each pair are aligned transversely of the cover plate.

Two ring plates 9 and 10 are positioned in edge to edge relationship in said cover plate with their inner edges abutting each other to provide a toggle joint. The outer longitudinal edge of ring plate 9 engages the corner at the top of flange 6, and the outer longitudinal edge of ring plate 10 engages the corner at the top offiange 7. Ring sections 11 and 12 extend from the outer edges of ring plates 9 and 10,.respectively, and through the apertures 8. Preferably the ring sections are integral with the ring plates, but they may be formed separately and secured thereto by riveting or welding. The ring sections are curved to meet in end to end relationship above the cover plate when the inner edges of the ring plates are below the outer edges. The free ends of the ring sections are shaped to interengage and form a smooth joint when they are in closed position. The cover plate 5, with the ring plates positioned therein, is secured to'back 3 by a plurality of rivets 5 which are countersunk in the cover plate.

The means for moving the inner edges of the ring plates upwardly and downwardly to open or close the ring sections comprises a pair of levers 13 and 14. Lever 13 has a flat flange 15 juxtaposed against the underside of ring plate 9 and welded thereto. Lever 14 has a similar flange 16 welded to the underside of ring plate 10. The levers 13 and 14 extend upwardly in closely spaced parallel planes. In the drawings the lever 14 is shown as being positioned closest to the edges of sheets 17, but it will be obvious that either lever may be so positioned. It is important, however, that one of the levers be as close as possible to the edges of the sheets so that the length of the binder may be kept as The upper portion of lever 13 is provided with a lateral projection that is bent at right angles along a line coincident with one vertical edge of the lever to form a lip 18 extending outwardly relative to the sheets 17. The lever 14 is substantially T-shaped and the outer edges of its cross arm 19 are each bent to form lips 20 and 21 extending in the same direction as lip 18. Since all three of the lips extend outwardly relative to the edges of sheets 17, no extra space is required between either lever and the sheets to provide clearance for the lips.

The upper end of lever 13 is ofiset laterally from the ring plate 9 so that the lip 18 will be spaced properly from lip 20 when the ring sections are closed to permit the levers to move the ring plates sufficiently to open the ring sections before the lips 18 and 20 are moved far enough to become aligned vertically.

It is important to note that lips 18, 2t and 21 are all approximately parallel to each other. When the ring sections are to be moved from the closed ring position of Fig. 5 to the open ring position of Fig. 6 lips 18 and 20 are grasped between the thumb and forefinger of the user and pressed toward each other to move them to the position of Fig. 6. The abutting edges of ring plates 9 and 10 are in their lowermost position when the ring sections are closed, and in their uppermost position when the ring sections are open.

In the movement of the levers it is necessary to prevent interference with the manipulation of lips 18 and 20 by lip 21. The vertical planes of lips 18 and 21 are so close that lip 21 would ordinarily interfere with positioning the users finger against lip 18. I have therefore made the levers 13 and 14 of diiferent heights, so that plenty of clearance is provided between lip 18 and either lip 20 or 21 regardless of the relative positions of the levers.

While I have described a preferred embodiment of my invention in considerable detail, it will be understood that the description is intended to be illustrative, rather than restrictive, as many details may be modified or changed without departing from the spirit or scope of my invention. Accordingly, I do not desire to be re stricted to the exact details of construction described, except aslimited by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, a cover plate, a flange extending substantially perpendicular to each longitudinal edge of said cover plate, a pair of ring plates positioned in said cover plate, said ring plates having mating ring sections projecting therefrom, said ring plates having their outer edges engaging said flanges and their inner edges abutting 41' to form a toggle joint therebetweeu, a lever secured to one end of one of said ring plates, a second lever secured to the corresponding end of said other ring plate, said levers projecting beyond said cover plate in parallel planes adjacent said ends of said ring plates, an integral lip extending at right angles from the upper portion of one of said levers, and a pair of integral lips spaced laterally on opposite sides of said first mentioned lip and extending from the upper portion of said other lever in the same direction as said first mentioned lip, said first mentioned lip being spaced relative to said pair of lips to provide ample finger clearance therebetween in any position of said levers, whereby said first mentioned lip and either lip of said pair of lips may be selectively grasped between the users thumb and forefinger to open or close said ring sections without interference from said other lip of said pair of lips.

2. In combination, a cover plate, a flange extending substantially perpendicular to each longitudinal edge of said cover plate, a pair of ring plates positioned in said cover plate, said ring plates having mating ring sections projecting therefrom, said ring plates havin their outer edges engaging said flanges and their inner edges abutting to form a toggle joint therebetween, a lever secured to one end of one of said ring plates, a second lever secured to the corresponding end of said other ring plate, said levers projecting beyond said cover plate in parallel planes adjacent said ends of said ring plates, an integral lip extending from the upper portion of one of said levers, and a pair of integral lips spaced laterally on opposite sides of said first mentioned lip and extending from the upper portion of said other lever, each of said lips extending at right angles to the plane of its lever in an outward direction relative to said ring plates, said first mentioned lip being spaced from said pair of laterally spaced lips to provide finger clearance, whereby said first mentioned lip and either lip of said pair of lips may be selectively grasped between the users thumb and forefinger and pressed toward each other to open or close said mating ring sections.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,815,511 Keene July 21, 1931 2,183,231 Trussell Dec. 21, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,092,197 France Nov. 3, 1954 

